Argentine actor Héctor Alterio dies at 96

The renowned Argentine actor Héctor Alterio has died in Madrid at the age of 96 “after a long and full life dedicated to his family and art, being professionally active” until this Saturday, as reported by the Alterio-Bacaicoa family in a statement.

Alterio (Buenos Aires, 1929) was one of the most prominent performers of his generation, both in his native Argentina and in Spain, where he developed his career prolifically and where he was recognized with the 2004 Goya of Honor from the Film Academy, of which he was a member.

He debuted as an actor in 1948, with the play ‘Forbidden suicide in spring’, by Alejandro Casona, and, after finishing his studies in Dramatic Art, he created the Nuevo Teatro company, with which he worked for the renewal of the Argentine scene during the 1960s.

HIS FAME CAME TO HIM THROUGH CINEMA

His fame as an actor, however, came to him through cinema, where he debuted alongside Alfredo Mathé in ‘Everything is bitter’ and where he participated in some of the best films of the new generation of Argentine filmmakers, such as Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, as reported by the Film Academy in a statement.

It was in 1975 when he settled in Spain, after being threatened with death by Triple A, beginning his enormous connection with Spanish cinema, collaborating with important figures of our cinema such as Jaime Chávarri, in ‘A un diosignon’, with which he won the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián Festival; ‘The crime of Cuenca’, by Pilar Miró; or ‘El nido’, the mythical story of Jaime de Armiñán, nominated for an Oscar in 1980.

Despite taking up residence in our country, Alterio did not stop participating in numerous films in his native country, starring in four of the first Argentine films to be nominated for the Hollywood Academy Awards: ‘La tregua’ (1974), ‘Camila’ (1984), ‘La historia oficial’ (1985), which won the Oscar, and ‘The Bride’s Son’ (2001).

His last work on the big screen was in 2015, ‘Due uomini, quattro donne e una mucca depressa’, by the Italian Anna di Francisca and released in 2015, although he could also be seen in 2014 in ‘Kamikaze’, by Álex Pina.

In 2004 he received the honorary Goya from his children Ernesto and Malena Alterio, also renowned film, theater and television performers in Spain and on the other side of the Atlantic, and four years later, in 2008, Argentina recognized him with the Silver Condor for his cinematographic career.

Already in 2023, the Kirchner Cultural Center of Buenos Aires paid him a tribute that was attended by a large group of professionals of the seventh art of Argentina, among them Ricardo Darín.